Hello again, Survivor fans! First things first: I must update you on my mom’s Survivor office pool. This year we are all rooting for….Monica! Yes, I have Monica in the pool. I could have done worse – I actually had her ranked at #6, and considering I was drawn from the hat at lucky #13 of 20, I did OK. My mom was selected second-to-last, and ended up with Gervase. We are aligned! My sister ended up with Tyson (my second choice) and my fiance, the weasel, nabbed my number one pick of Vytas.

If you’ve seen Wednesday night’s episode, click through so we can talk about it!

This week on Redemption Island…

Guys, I really hate Redemption Island. It’s not exciting – “truels” are dumb, and all the drama is sucked out of the end of the episode when a person isn’t truly voted out. I am not into it. I also hate that two of three people survive the “truel”. You don’t need to be the best to survive, you just need to not be the worst? Weak sauce.

The “truel”was a challenge that required a steady hand – players had to navigate discs through a bendy metal obstacle, and then stack them. Candice creamed her competition, and Rupert knocked his shoddily arranged stack over leaving room for Marissa to place second. Rupert is officially the first player out!!! I could have only been happier had it been Colton. As the winner, Candice got to reward someone with a clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol – naturally, she chose her husband.

Leopard, Spots, Etc., Etc.

The Veterans’ camp saw a lot of drama this week, because Colton got bored and was only able to fake his new personality for a couple of days before reverting back to a horrid, rumor-starting, pot-stirring brat. He missed Caleb, hated his tribe’s zen attitude and needed to stir up some drama to amuse his feeble mind.

Oh, Colton. Man, are you dumb. A good Survivor player knows that in the early stages of the game, zen is good. Win challenges, keep the tribe happy and united as long as possible, head into the merge with a strong majority alliance. That’s Survivor 101. It’s not the only way to play the game, but it’s a good way to play the game. Starting rumors and backstabbing people on Day 6 is only going to make you enemies. Colton’s problem is that he stirs up trouble just to create chaos, but he doesn’t have an actual strategy. He just likes to watch things blow up.

Tyson, Aras, Gervase, Tina and Monica formed an early alliance – given that me, my mom, and my sister have three of those players in the pool, I’d be OK with that alliance going to the end. I also like all of those players, with the possible exception of Gervase. I’m on the fence about him, given his swimming skills (or lack thereof) and his bragging after challenge wins.

It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World

Meanwhile, over on the Newbies’ tribe, Ciera suspected that John and Rachel were aligned. She was right, too, and when the other guys started throwing around the idea of voting Rachel out, John was not on board.

Vytas’s suggestion was that if the tribe votes out Rachel, Tyson will swap places with her on Redemption Island and the Veterans’ tribe will be instantly weakened. He was right on that – Tyson is one of only a few strong guys on that tribe, while the Newbies have many. But would Tyson really do that? It’s interesting, and I wondered if perhaps Vytas was basing his prediction on better knowledge than we have on what Tyson is like. The last time Tyson played, he voted himself out of the game. The guy has something to prove, and if Rachel ended up on the Veteran tribe there would be no guarantee that he’ll swap spots with her.

Personally, I would still want to vote out the weakest tribe member instead of bank on a Veteran swapping spots with a loved one. But, there was no clear weak link in this week’s challenge.

A Barrel of Laughs

For the Immunity/Reward Challenge this week, a few players had to roll one team member around in a wooden barrel while that person collected bags of balls. Then another player would play skeeball with those balls.

The challenge was neck-and-neck for a long time, but in the end Gervase won it for the Veterans with his skeeball skills. I guess he kind of earned his gloating this time around, since no one had to carry him like a baby. The Veterans not only won Immunity, but also some awesome fishing equipment.

Hey, you know what I could do with less of on this show? Disgusting shots of bugs. Yep, I don’t need those. Thanks, Survivor producers, but try and find a stock shot of a monkey or something for next week.

The guys on the Newbies’ tribe stuck with their plan to vote out Rachel, but John really wasn’t on board. This kid already had a clue for the Hidden Immunity Idol, and that puts a target on your back. I think he should have piped down and voted out his homie. Why ruffle feathers by trying to save Rachel? They could vote her out with or without him, and in this game it’s often important to just play along with the popular kids.

So in the end, Rachel was voted onto Redemption Island. Will Tyson really take her place? I hope not. The potential to switch has added an interesting layer to the game, but Tyson is a compelling character and a good competitor, and I don’t want him to end up on Redemption Island. Plus, he’ll really screw over his alliance and his tribe if he jumps ship.

And how about Colton next week? What a crybaby. I can’t stand that kid.

6 Responses to Survivor – Redemption Swan Song

I’m actually digging Redemption Island this time around. With three people, there’s less a chance of one person going on a monster run and eliminating everyone. A less challenge-savvy player has a chance to get back in, and they tend to be the more interesting strategic players anyway. Plus there’s the added layer of someone potentially throwing themselves on the fire to save a loved one. It actually adds a significant layer of strategy. Although I think they only reason they brought it back was to have loved ones face each other in a duel. And having three people in there makes that more likely.

As a random thought, could you imagine what would happen if Dawn were on this season? The emotional breakdowns would be taken to a whole new level. They could turn that into its own spin off show.

Vytas and Aras look like they’re running this game so far, which isn’t wholly surprising. I haven’t seen much strategy from most of the players, which was bound to happen when you pick three players from One World, Gervase, Tyson, and Rupert. It’s like they’re trying to gift Aras with another million.

The thing that I most wondered about was Tyson sitting around the fire with his arms wrapped around Aras. I get being comfortable but Aras was sitting down on the ground between Tyson’s legs, while Tyson sat on a stump with his arms draped over his shoulders with his hands together.

I gotta admit, that part was quite awkward. My immediate thought was, “who the heck is hooking up over there”, and then when the camera panned back, I noticed who it was Tyson with the long hair, not a woman….lol.

I KNOW YOU GUYS! The Aras / Tyson fireside cuddle session really through me for a loop as well. I was thinking “Whoa, someone is moving in on Aras at warp speed” and then…….. wait….is that Tyson? okaaaay.
But back to the game, I was so tickled that Rupert lost that challenge. I knew he would because he’s so friggin’ intense that anything like this is a near impossibility for him. So take your hero complex and hit the road Jack.
Yes, I have Gervase in the pool so his stellar performance with the bowling portion of the challenge almost made me forget that he needs water wings for anything involving the ocean. Let’s hope the guy can stay on dry land and kill in challenges so that I can dream about how to spend the $200 bucks for a few weeks anyway !

This was another solid episode, although (in my opinion) still not as interesting as Philippines’ and Caramoan’s first two. Hope things will start to pick up pace as soon as castaways get eliminated.

After the first duel, I have to admit that I like the concept of Redemption Island for this season, because it offers a lot of possibilities to test the blood bonds. I’m glad that Gervase didn’t take Marissa’s place, but I believe someone will do it sooner or later! The duel was exciting and I was really happy to see Rupert go. Swapping place with his wife, was a moronic move (although many will see it as heroic) and I’m happy that he got his just desserts.

The challenge was good, and I was happy to see Gervase make a huge comeback for Galang! I can’t help but like him, he’s such as a happy-go-lucky guy! I have a good sensation about him, and I think your mother was lucky to get him in the pool. (Besides, congratulations for your pick. I had Monica in my top5 after the first episode. My five were, in this order, Vytas, Tyson, Aras, Gervase and Monica.)

As for Colton…well, we definitely started to see his true colors in this episode. I won’t be bothered in the least if he quits next week. He’s such a spoiled brat that I can’t see why CBS wanted him to come back, given that almost the whole audience hates him.